Naked mole rats' DNA could hold key to long life 12 hours ago Share Save Victoria Gill Science correspondent, BBC News Share Save Washington Post via Getty Images Naked mole rats live for up to 40 years, compared to about three years for a mouse They are weird, bald, subterranean rodents that look like sausages with teeth, and they have just revealed a genetic secret to long life. A new study of the bizarre naked mole rat shows that the animals have evolved a DNA repair mechanism that could explain their longevity. These burrow-dwelling rats have a maximum life span of nearly 40 years, making them the world's longest-lived rodent. The new findings, published in the journal Science, could also shed light on why naked mole rats are resistant to a wide range of age-related diseases. The animals are resistant to cancer, deterioration of the brain and spinal cord, and arthritis, so many scientists want to understand more about how their bodies work. For this study, led by a team at Tonji University in Shanghai, China, the focus was DNA repair - a natural process in our bodies' cells. When strands of DNA - our genetic building blocks - are damaged, a mechanism is triggered whereby another undamaged strand of DNA is used as a template to repair the break. The focus of this research was on a particular protein that is involved in that system of damage sensing and repair. When a cell senses the damage, one of the substances it produces is a protein called c-GAS. That plays several roles, but what was of interest to these scientists is that in humans, it interferes with and hampers the process by which DNA is knitted back together. Scientists think that this interference could promote cancer and shorten our lifespan. In naked mole rats though, the researchers found that the exact same protein does the opposite. It helps the body mend strands of DNA and keeps the genetic code in each cell intact. Whale menopause linked to longer lifespan Mutations across species reveal clue to ageing BBC Future: What naked mole rats can teach us about treating cancer Chicago Tribune via Getty Images Naked mole rats live in a network of underground tunnels and chambers

Fossil found on Dorset coast is unique 'sword dragon' species 6 hours ago Share Save Jonah Fisher Environment correspondent Share Save Dean Lomax Ichthyosaur experts Dr Dean Lomax and Professor Judy Massare with the 185m year old skeleton A near-complete skeleton found on Dorset's Jurassic coast has been identified as a new species of ichthyosaur, a type of prehistoric marine reptile that once ruled the oceans. The dolphin-sized ichthyosaur has been named Xiphodracon goldencapensis, or the "sword dragon of Dorset" and is the only known example of its kind. Scientists say that marks on its skull suggest that the "sword dragon" may have been killed by a bite to the head, possibly inflicted by a much larger species of ichthyosaur. First discovered by a prolific fossil hunter at Golden Cap in Dorset in 2001 the new ichthyosaur was then acquired by a museum in Canada. Dean Lomax The skull of the "sword dragon" has a huge eye socket and a mark on its head that suggests it may have been attacked by another larger ichthyosaur It has only recently been fully analysed by experts and a paper published identifying it as a new species of ichthyosaur. "I thought long and hard about the name," said ichthyosaur expert Dr Dean Lomax, who co-authored authored the paper identifying the skeleton as a new species. "Xiphodracon translates to sword-like dragon and that is in reference to that very long, sword-like snout, but also the fact that ichthyosaurs have been referred to as sea dragons for about 200 years. " Getty Images This is a what ichthyosaurs may have looked like. This particular species is a shonisaurus which could grow to more than 15 metres long. Ichthyosaurs are classified as marine reptiles, not dinosaurs, because they spent their lives in the water. This particular ichthyosaur is thought to have swum the seas about 185 million years ago, a period from which very few ichthyosaur fossils have been found. "During this time ichthyosaurs are incredibly rare, and Xiphodracon is the most complete individual ever found from there, helping to fill a gap," Dr Lomax said. "It's a missing piece of the puzzle in the ichthyosaur evolution. " The "sword dragon" is thought to have been about 3m long and has several features that have not been seen in other species of ichthyosaur. Scientists say the strangest detail is a prong-like bone near its nostril. The skull has an enormous eye socket and a long sword-like snout that it used to eat fish and squid. There are also clues as to how this particular specimen lived and died. "The limb bones and teeth are malformed in such a way that points to serious injury or disease while the animal was still alive, " said study co-author Dr Erin Maxwell from the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart. "The skull appears to have been bitten by a large predator - likely another much larger species of ichthyosaur - giving us a cause of death for this individual. Life in the Mesozoic oceans was a dangerous prospect. " The 'sword dragon' is one of numerous ichthyosaur fossils that have been found along Dorset's Jurassic Coast since the first discoveries of pioneering palaeontologist Mary Anning in the early 1800s. Chris Moore Chris Moore discovered the 'sword dragon' in cliffs at Golden Cap in Dorset after a storm

Chemistry Nobel awarded for work on new materials that could help planet "How long do I have to stay here? Because I have to go out for a meeting," he added. "I'm deeply honoured and delighted, thank you very much," said Professor Kitagawa on the phone to a press conference after he was told the news. The three scientists' work could tackle some of the biggest problems on our planet, including capturing carbon dioxide to help tackle climate change and reducing plastic pollution using chemistry. The Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M Yaghi for their work on metal-organic frameworks. Professor Kitagawa works at Kyoto University in Japan, Professor Richard Robson is at University of Melbourne, Australia, and Professor Omar M Yaghi is at the University of California, US. The three winners will share prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (£872,000). The scientists' work is about how molecules can be built together into structures - or metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The Nobel committee called it "molecular architecture". The men worked out how to build constructions with large spaces between the molecules, through which gases and other chemicals can flow. These "rooms" can be used to capture and store chemicals that humans want to get rid of, including carbon dioxide in the atmosphere or so-called forever chemicals, also known as PFAS. The scientists began working independently on the structures in the 1970s and 1980s. Prof Robson asked his university to drill holes into the lab worktops so that wooden balls - representing atoms - could be attached to wooden rods, representing chemical bonds. So far MOFs have only been used on a small-scale, but companies are looking into whether they can be mass-produced. One potential application is to break down harmful gases, including those used in nuclear weapons. Companies are also testing whether they can be used to capture the planet-warming gas carbon dioxide from power stations and factories. Professor Robson, who was born in North Yorkshire but has been based at the University of Melbourne since 1966, told BBC Newshour that the news "wasn't a big surprise [because of] all sorts of sounds I've been hearing over the years". When asked about the potential applications of his work he urged caution: "There's talk about binding CO2 and solving the world's atmospheric problems, which don't sound realistic to me - but these sorts of compounds could do that sort of job on a small scale". The 88-year-old professor admits the prize money "is the main thing actually in my head. It wasn't the driving force for all of this but at this stage in my life that's a very nice thought to have". The award is another indicator of the value of chemistry in addressing some of the planet's hardest problems. "Every year we see Nobel Prizes given to chemists who welcome the challenge of finding solutions to the biggest problems our global society faces – better healthcare, environmental protection, clean energy, and secure food and water for everyone," said Dr Annette Doherty, president of the Royal Society of Chemistry in Britain

King Charles hopes nature film will 'inspire' viewers 9 hours ago Share Save Sean Coughlan Royal correspondent Share Save Millie Pilkington/ King's Foundation King Charles held a "harmony summit" at Highgrove in the summer, where this photograph was taken King Charles says he wants to inspire a "sense of determination" to protect the environment, as details are announced of a TV documentary in which he will explain his philosophy of "harmony" and the need "to work with rather than against nature". The King's Foundation says the feature-length TV film, provisionally titled Finding Harmony: A King's Vision, will be screened on Amazon's Prime Video early next year. "Never has it been more important for the world to make a concerted effort to protect and prioritise our planet, and to restore our relationship with it," the monarch said about the project. In the film the King will reflect on his own decades of campaigning for sustainability. The King said it was his "fondest hope that this film may encourage a new audience to learn about the philosophy of harmony - and perhaps inspire the same sense of determination it has given me to help build a more sustainable future". The King has appeared in a behind-the-scenes BBC film about the Coronation, but this will be a more unusual approach in looking at his beliefs. "For much of my life I have sought to promote and encourage ways we can work with, rather than against nature. In other words, to restore balance to our planet which is under such stress," said the King. The one-off documentary will show how he believes humans are "part of nature, not apart from nature" and that a healthy connection with nature is at "the core of human wellbeing". With examples from around the world, the documentary will show how the philosophy of harmony can be applied to agriculture, traditional craft skills, architecture and town planning. "This film will, I hope, demonstrate just some of the remarkable work being done around the world to put harmony into practice, from the forests of Guyana to sustainable communities in India – and, closer to home, through the work of my King's Foundation at Dumfries House and Highgrove," said the King. King's Foundation The King heard from Indigenous peoples about the importance of living with nature

Physics Nobel awarded to three scientists for work on quantum computing 17 hours ago Share Save Georgina Rannard Science reporter Share Save Getty Images The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Martinis for their work on quantum mechanics that is paving the way for a new generation of very powerful computers. "There is no advanced technology used today that does not rely on quantum mechanics, including mobile phones, cameras. and fibre optic cables," said the Nobel committee. The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at a news conference in Stockholm, Sweden. "To put it mildly, it was a surprise of my life," said Professor John Clarke, who was born in Cambridge, UK and now works at the University of California in Berkeley. Devoret was born in Paris, France and is a professor at Yale University while John M. Martinis is a professor at University of California, Santa Barbara. The three winners will share prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (£872,000). The Nobel committee recognised breakthrough work performed by the three men in a series of experiments in the 1980s on electrical circuits. In the words of the committee, "the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit". Even for a field often considered dense, this discovery sounds bewildering. Getty Images But its implications have been profound and far-reaching. The electronic devices that most of us use rely on it, and the findings are being used to build extremely powerful computers. "This is something that leads to development of the quantum computer. Many people are working on quantum computing, our discovery is in many ways the basis of this," said Prof Clarke on the phone to the news conference moments after he was told he had won. He appeared mystified that his work completed forty years ago is worthy of science's most prestigious prize. "I'm completely stunned. At the time we did not realise in any way that this might be the basis for a Nobel prize," he said. Quantum mechanics relates to the behaviour of tiny things in a tiny world. It refers to what particles like the electron do in the sub-atomic world. Professor Clarke and his team looked at how these particles appeared to break rules like travelling through energy barriers that conventional physics said was impossible - something called "tunnelling". Using quantum "tunnelling", the electron manages to burrow through the energy barrier. Their work demonstrated that tunnelling can be reproduced not only in the quantum world, but also in electrical circuits in the 'real world'. This knowledge has been harnessed by scientists in making modern quantum chips. "This is wonderful news indeed, and very well deserved," said Professor Lesley Cohen, Associate Provost in the Department of Physics at Imperial College London. "Their work has laid the foundations for superconducting Qubits - one of the main hardware technologies for quantum technologies. " Previous winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics

Dazzling supermoon illuminates skylines around the world Sky-watchers across the globe were treated to a supermoon this week, appearing brighter and larger in the evening sky. A supermoon occurs when the moon reaches its perigee in orbit, meaning it is at its closest point to the Earth. This is a special supermoon known by multiple names. It's called the Hunter's Moon because it's the first full moon in October. The name harks back to historic preparations for winter in the northern hemisphere, where people would hunt and preserve meats. It's also called Harvest Moon, designated to the full moon that rises closest to the autumn equinox (22 September). Its nickname recalls a time when farmers would use the moon's brightness to collect crops in the evening

Thousands join biggest-ever UK environmental lawsuit over river pollution 48 minutes ago Share Save Steffan Messenger Environment correspondent, BBC Wales Share Save BBC The Wye Valley is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The biggest legal claim ever brought in the UK over environmental pollution in the country has been filed at the High Court. Almost 4,000 people have signed up to the lawsuit against major poultry producers and a water company over allegations of "extensive and widespread pollution" in three rivers - the Wye, Lugg and Usk. They argue the state of the rivers in recent years has severely affected local businesses, property values and people's enjoyment of the area, and are seeking "substantial damages". The firms being sued - Avara Foods Limited, Freemans of Newent Limited and Welsh Water - all deny the claims. Celine O'Donovan, from the law firm Leigh Day, said the case was the largest brought in the UK over environmental pollution in the country on three counts – the number of claimants, the geographical scale of the damage and the total damages claimed. Those who have joined the group legal claim all either live or work alongside the rivers or use them regularly for leisure activities like swimming and canoeing. They want the court to order a clean-up of the rivers as well as compensation. A combination of chicken manure and sewage spills are blamed for harming water quality and suffocating fish and other wildlife. The Wye in particular has become symbolic of widespread concerns over the worsening state of the UK's waterways in recent years. As many as 23 million chickens, a quarter of the UK's poultry production, are raised in the river's catchment area. Justine Evans Justine Evans used to love swimming and canoeing on the River Wye but is now worried polluted water might make her ill It flows for 155 miles from its source in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales along the border with England to the Severn Estuary. The River Lugg is a major tributary of the Wye, flowing predominately through Herefordshire. The River Usk runs through the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, also known as the Brecon Beacons, as well as the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape World Heritage Site before reaching the Bristol Channel at Newport. All three rivers are protected for their importance to rare wildlife, including otters, freshwater pearl mussels and the Atlantic salmon. Wildlife filmmaker Justine Evans is acting as the lead claimant and said she had noticed a "stark decline" in the Wye's condition in recent years. The once clear river had turned murky and slimy, completely changing how she felt about living alongside it, she said. "It's horrible to think what has happened to the wildlife it is home to," she added. Friends of the lower Wye Campaigners have been raising concerns over the state of the river Wye for several years Former Olympic swimmer Roland Lee moved to live near the Wye in order to have access to open water for swimming. "But now I'd actually go as far as to warn people against going in," he said. Another claimant, Gino Parisi from Raglan, Monmouthshire, was worried about the state of the River Usk. "Having grown up around the River Usk in the 1980s, I know just how beautiful the river and surrounding area can be," he said. Now the water had become "mucky and cloudy" and "you can see build-ups of foam in a number of spots". "Not only would I feel uncomfortable going in, but I'd also have concerns for my health. " Why is the River Wye polluted? The claimants allege pollution has been caused by run-off from farmland containing high concentrations of phosphorus, nitrogen and bacteria from the spreading of poultry manure and sewage bio solids used as fertiliser. They also blame discharge of sewage directly into rivers. The companies being sued are accused of negligence, causing private and public nuisance and even trespass where the riverbed has been affected on a claimant's property. One part of the claim is brought on behalf of people affected by what is known as the Lugg Moratorium - restrictions on building brought in by Herefordshire County Council to protect the River Lugg from further pollution. Oliver Holland from Leigh Day said the claim was "the culmination of an extraordinary effort by local community members and campaign groups to research, monitor and advocate for their rivers". "This is the largest legal action concerning environmental pollution ever brought in the UK. In a context where government and regulators have failed to prevent the degradation of our rivers the court has become the last avenue for justice," he added. Gino Parisi Gino Parisi has "many happy memories" of swimming and paddling in the River Usk

A decade ago, the leaders of the three main parties, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband signed their pledge that effectively took climate and energy policy out of the democratic process. Although it was not yet enshrined in law, this agreement effectively paved the way for Theresa May to set the Net Zero target in 2019. By 2021, our envoy to COP26, Alok Sharma was gleefully blowing up coal-fired power stations and Rishi Sunak was boasting of aligning £130 trillion of the world’s financial assets with the Paris Agreement climate goals, or what we might now see as western economic suicide. The only opposition to the Net Zero juggernaut was the tiny think tank GWPF/NZW alongside a few dissident bloggers and journalists like Ben Pile, Andrew Orlowski and Ross Clarke. Later they were joined by the likes of yours truly and Kathryn Porter. The Net Zero citadel was virtually impregnable. Fast forward a few years and last year Reform ran on a platform of ditching Net Stupid Zero and earlier this year, Kemi Badenoch signalled that the Tories no longer believed Net Zero was achievable by 2050. The number of journalists writing about the follies of Net Zero and UK energy policy had also grown. Net Zero no longer looked impregnable, cracks were beginning to appear but progress was slow. However, on Thursday, Kemi announced that the Conservative Party plans to repeal the Climate Change Act, which underpins all the Net Zero nonsense. They have also committed to abolish the Climate Change Committee. Their full announcement can be found at this link: 2025 10 01 Climate Change Act [special brief] This new policy signals the sudden collapse stage of the Net Zero folly. The change is already heralding a change in the world of policymaking wonks and thinktanks. In the run up to the Tories’ announcement, the priesthood of Net Zero has been queuing up to endorse the Net Zero Reformation. First, we had “chairman” Michael Liebreich calling for a “Pragmatic Climate Reset” suggesting that historical over-reaches should be wound back and for the legitimate concerns of voters to be addressed. Sam Richards, CEO of Britain Remade has posted an astonishing mea culpa. He advised Boris Johnson to expand offshore wind but is now saying that development of renewables should be paused and the Clean Power 2030 plan be scrapped. Even Octopus Energy is thinking out loud that the focus should be on electrification, not renewables. This about turn from the commentariat and wider Blob comes against the background of a string of profit warnings from renewables operators and investment funds and the mammoth rights issue from Orsted. The Net Zero agenda is collapsing. It is interesting that this change of heart has come from people who have largely never had to wonder about the engineering marvels that had to occur behind the scenes to ensure the lights stayed on when they turned on their cookers. Perhaps the blackout in Spain and Portugal earlier this year has focused minds on the dangers of too many intermittent renewables on the grid. We can now see that the empty rhetoric of the “Saudi Arabia of Wind” and “Green Energy Superpower” was the triumph of narrative over numbers and optics over substance. These people in wonk-land never had to worry about choosing between heating or eating; were not concerned about increasing energy debt and were totally at ease as heavy industry collapsed. They are ignorant of maths; the closest they have ever come to imaginary numbers is the increasingly implausible cost estimates from the CCC. They are also ignorant of economics as they clapped like seals at the “nine times cheaper than gas” mantra. We should welcome their Damascene conversion but be cautious that their new message might be just as fickle as the old. Kemi’s announcement came the day after Ed Miliband’s speech at Labour Conference where he claimed Nigel Farage and Reform are “investment crushing, job destroying, bill raising, poverty driving, science denying, Putin appeasing, young people betraying bunch of ideological extremists”. I think this is what psychologists call projection. Miliband is accusing his opponents of wanting to do the very same things he is already doing himself. Jim Ratcliff’s INEOS has ended all UK investment because of Net Zero policies pushing up taxes on North Sea oil and gas and expensive energy prices. This, of course, destroys jobs too. Miliband is pushing up bills by pressing ahead with Allocation Round 7, extending contracts to 20 years and offering prices that are much more expensive than gas-fired generation, and of course high bills drive poverty. Miliband denies the physics of intermittent renewables and seems totally unaware of the laws of thermodynamics. If Miliband (and the EU) really wanted to damage Putin, they would all have got behind “drill, baby drill”, because increased supply of hydrocarbons would reduce prices, cutting revenues to the Russian regime. Pursuing expensive and intermittent energy sources as an ideological goal, coupled with the associated economic destruction, does far more to betray the younger generation than almost any other policy. Net Zero has been crumbling for over a year and is now beginning the sudden collapse stage. Now the only people backing Net Zero are the reality-denying zealots of DESNZ and the CCC. We can imagine Miliband, his head of Mission Control Chris Stark, and the new chair of the CCC, Nigel Topping, barricaded in their ivory tower with their fingers in their ears, saying la-la-la, as Emma Pinchbeck crouches in a corner, rocking on her haunches, humming kumbaya. If Starmer wants to survive and get the country growing again, he has got to fire Miliband and follow Farage and Badenoch by abandoning Net Zero. Then the collapse will be complete. David Turver writes the Eigen Values Substack page, where this article first appeared

Renewables overtake coal as world's biggest source of electricity 6 hours ago Share Save Justin Rowlatt Climate Editor Share Save AFP via Getty Images Renewable energy overtook coal as the world's leading source of electricity in the first half of this year - a historic first, according to new data from the global energy think tank Ember. Electricity demand is growing around the world but the growth in solar and wind was so strong it met 100% of the extra electricity demand, even helping drive a slight decline in coal and gas use. However, Ember says the headlines mask a mixed global picture. Developing countries, especially China, led the clean energy charge but richer nations including the US and EU relied more than before on planet-warming fossil fuels for electricity generation. Coal, a major contributor to global warming, was still the world's largest individual source of energy generation in 2024, a position it has held for more than 50 years, according to the International Energy Agency. China remains way ahead in clean energy growth, adding more solar and wind capacity than the rest of the world combined. This enabled the growth in renewable generation in China to outpace rising electricity demand and helped reduce its fossil fuel generation by 2%. India experienced slower electricity demand growth and also added significant new solar and wind capacity, meaning it too cut back on coal and gas. In contrast, developed nations like the US, and also the EU, saw the opposite trend. In the US, electricity demand grew faster than clean energy output, increasing reliance on fossil fuels, while in the EU, months of weak wind and hydropower performance led to a rise in coal and gas generation. Getty Images 'Crucial' turning point Despite these regional differences, Ember calls this moment a "crucial turning point". Ember senior analyst Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka said it "marks the beginning of a shift where clean power is keeping pace with demand growth". Solar power delivered the lion's share of growth, meeting 83% of the increase in electricity demand. It has now been the largest source of new electricity globally for three years in a row. Most solar generation (58%) is now in lower-income countries, many of which have seen explosive growth in recent years. That's thanks to spectacular reductions in cost. Solar has seen prices fall a staggering 99. 9% since 1975 and is now so cheap that large markets for solar can emerge in a country in the space of a single year, especially where grid electricity is expensive and unreliable, says Ember. Pakistan, for example, imported solar panels capable of generating 17 gigawatts (GW) of solar power in 2024, double the previous year and the equivalent of roughly a third of the country's current electricity generation capacity. Africa is also experiencing a solar boom with panel imports up 60% year on year, in the year to June. Coal-heavy South Africa led the way, while Nigeria overtook Egypt into second place with 1. 7GW of solar generating capacity - that's enough to meet the electricity demand of roughly 1. Some smaller African nations have seen even more rapid growth with Algeria increasing imports 33-fold, Zambia eightfold and Botswana sevenfold. In some countries the growth of solar has been so rapid it is creating unexpected challenges. In Afghanistan, widespread use of solar-powered water pumps is lowering the water table, threatening long-term access to groundwater. A study by Dr David Mansfield and satellite data firm Alcis warns that some regions could run dry within five to ten years, endangering millions of livelihoods. Adair Turner, chair of the UK's Energy Transitions Commission, says countries in the global "sun belt" and "wind belt" face very different energy challenges. Sun belt nations - including much of Asia, Africa, and Latin America - need large amounts of electricity for daytime air conditioning. These countries can significantly reduce energy costs almost immediately by adopting solar-based systems, supported by increasingly affordable batteries that store energy from day to night. Wind belt countries like the UK face tougher obstacles, however. Wind turbine costs have not come down by anything like as much as solar panels - down just a third or so in the last decade. Higher interest rates have also added to borrowing costs and raised the overall price of installing wind farms significantly in the last few years. Balancing supply is harder too: winter wind lulls can last for weeks, requiring backup power sources that batteries alone can't provide - making the system more expensive to build and run. But wherever you are in the world, China's overwhelming dominance in clean tech industries remains unchallenged, other new data from Ember shows. In August 2025, its clean tech exports hit a record $20bn, driven by surging sales of electric vehicles (up 26%) and batteries (up 23%). Together, China's electric vehicles and batteries are now worth more than twice the value of its solar panel exports

Environment prize nominees 'heroes of our time', says William 9 hours ago Share Save Daniela Relph Senior royal correspondent Share Save Kensington Palace/PA Wire The Prince of Wales has described those in the running for his environmental Earthshot prize as "heroes of our time". Prince William will travel to Rio de Janeiro next month for the ceremony - the first time the awards have been hosted in Latin America. The prize, created by the prince five years ago, awards £1m every year to five projects for their environmental innovations. There have been almost 2,500 nominees this year from 72 countries - this year's winners will be chosen by Prince William and his Earthshot Prize Council which includes the actor, Cate Blanchett and Jordan's Queen Rania. This year's list of finalists range from a Caribbean country to small start-up businesses. The Earthshot Prize is a 10-year project with past ceremonies held in London, Boston, Singapore and Cape Town. Kensington Palace confirmed earlier this year that the main awards ceremony will be held at Rio de Janeiro's Museum of Tomorrow on 5 November. Barbados has been nominated for its global leadership on climate with the island on track to become fossil-free by 2030. The Chinese city of Guangzhou is shortlisted in the "Clean our Air" category for electrification of its public transport system. Prince William previously said he would like to take the Earthshot Prize to China. Finally, what has been billed as the world's first fully "upcycled skyscraper" makes the final list too. Sydney's Quay Quarter Tower was one of thousands of 20th century towers now reaching the end of their lifespans. Instead of demolition, which releases vast amounts of carbon and waste, a coalition of architects, engineers, building contractors and developers has effectively "upcycled" the original structure. "Matter" is the only British finalist in the line-up. Based in Bristol, the business has developed a filter for washing machines removing the greatest cause of microplastics in our oceans. "I feel like winning an Earthshot prize for me would be like winning an Olympic gold medal," said Adam Root, the founder of Matter. Reuters In 2024, Actor Billy Porter and Earthshot ambassadors Robert Irwin and Nomzamo Mbatha joined the Prince of Wales on stage at the awards In a video message released to mark the announcement of this year's finalists, he reflected on the past five years. "Back then, a decade felt a long time. George was seven, Charlotte, five, and Louis two; the thought of them in 2030 felt a lifetime away," said Prince William. "But today, as we stand halfway through this critical decade, 2030 feels very real. "2030 is a threshold by which future generations will judge us; it is the point at which our actions, or lack of them, will have shaped forever the trajectory of our planet. " He added: "The people behind these projects are heroes of our time, so let us back them. Because, if we do, we can make the world cleaner, safer and full of opportunity - not only for future generations, but for the lives we want to lead now